Railway-tie.



O. R. HOLDEN.'

RAILWAY TIE.

APPLIOATIOR FILED FEB. 25, 1908. RENEWED FEB. 11, 1909.

' Patented Sept. 14, 1909.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.-

CHARLES R. HOLDEN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

RAILWAY-TIE.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept. 14, 1909.

Application filed February 25, 1908, Serial No. 417,875. RenewedFebruary 11, 1909. Serial No. 477,461.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES R. HOLDEN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Railway-Ties, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in sheet-metal ties, and my primaryobject is to provide an inexpensive, strong and durable tie which shallbe capable of resisting the heavy strains to which railway ties aresubjected in use.

Another object is to provide a tie which shall resist the tendency tocreeping on the roadbed under the strains to which ties are subjected inuse.

Referring to the accompanying drawing- Figure 1 shows, by a plan view, atie constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a View inside elevation of the tie shown in Fig. 1, showing rails and fasteningmeans therefor in position on the tie. Fig.

3 is a perspective View of a portion of an end of the.tie shown in thepreceding figures. Fig. 4 is a top plan View of a modification of thetie illustrated in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a view in side elevation of thesame, with rails shown thereon in dotted lines. Fig. 6 is a sectiontaken at the line 6 on Fig. 1 and viewed in the direction of the arrow.Fig. 7 is a section taken at the line 7 on Fig. 4 and viewed in thedirection of the arrow; and Fig. 8, a view like that of Fig. 7, but ofanother modification.

The ties represented in all of the figures are of the general U-shapevariety formed by the well-known rolling process.

The tie A of Fig. 1 comprises a base 9 having two right angle flanges 10bent from it to extend upwardly. The flanges 10 as to their greaterportions are relatively thin, as is also the bottom 9, and formed on theinner opposed surfaces of the flanges and integral therewith anddisposed intermediate the top and bottom edges of the flanges, arelongitudinally extending ribs 11, which thus form reinforcements for theflanges. The flanges 10 at the opposed ends of the tie are first bent onthemselves as illustrated at 12 in Fig. 3, and then, while in bentcondition, flattened out as represented at 13 in the same figure, withthe result of broadening the ends of the tie and deflecting themdownwardly to the positions represented in Figs. 1 and 2. I prefer toprovide the tie with an opening through it for permitting drainage ofmoisture from the tie, and to provide means for embedment in theballast, to prevent creeping of the tie lengthwise of the track of whichit forms a part. To accomplish this 1 cut lips 14: from the bottom 9 ofthe tie to extend longitudinally thereof, by severing the metal alongthe lines 15, and then by bending the lips 14 downward on the dottedlines 16 1 form depending flanges which, when the ties are applied tothe roadbed, extend downward into the ballast and thus serve as stopsfor preventing the creeping of the tie, the manner of providing theflanges as described aflording openings 17 through the bottom 9 of thetie for permitting moisture to escape through them, instead of beingretained in the tie.

The ties are applied to the roadbed with the flanges 10 projectingupwardly and it is preferred that the channels in the tie formed betweenthe flanges 10 be filled with crushed stone or cement, as desired, orany other suitable filling, up to a point where the fill ing will notinterfere with the operation of fastening the rails to the tie. Inapplying the tie to the ballast, the openings 17 permit of the tampingof the ballast underneath the tie and thus a firm foundation for the tiemay be afforded.

The rails, such as for instance those represented at 18, may be fastenedto the ties A in any suitable manner. The means for securing each railto the tie, as illustrated in the drawings, comprises a key 19 whichextends across the tie and fits in opposed recesses 20, 20 in theflanges 10, this key having a flange 21 which, by driving the keytransversely of the tie into engagement with the walls of the recesses20, engageswith the adjacent flange 22 of the rail 18, which engages atits opposed flange 23 with the other recesses 24 in the flanges whichcommunicate with the adjacent recesses 20.

If desired, the thin metal section of the flanges 10 above the rib 11may be bent inwardly as represented at 25 in Fig. 6 to permit aswitch-rail (not shown) to extend across the tie intermediate the mainrails supported thereon.

The construction illustrated in Figs. 4, 5 and 7 is the same as thatshown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 with the exception that instead of providingthe reinforcing rib 11, a rib 26 is formed at the top of each of theflanges 10 on their inner surfaces, as represented in Fig. 7 and therails 18 instead of fitting in recesses in the flanges and being held tothe ties by wedges likewise fitting the recesses, rest crosswise of theties upon the upper edges of the latter as represented in Fig. 5, wherethey may be fastened to the ties in any suitable manner.

The construction illustrated in Fig. 8 is the same as that of Fig. 1,except that the flanges 10 instead of having ribs 11 formed on theirinner surfaces as described, are made of uniform thickness throughoutand are relatively thicker than the bottom 9 of the tie, therebyaffording reinforced flanges.

It is a matter .of common knowledge among those versed in railroadengineering that the tendency of a tie, when pressure is brought to bearagainst it at points near its .ends, as is the case in practice, is tobend .down at its ends, and consequently great strain is brought againstthe center of the tie, often resulting in its breaking or buckling. Themain reason for the deflection of the .ends of the tie is that they aretoo narrow to offer the desired resistance to the bending pressure, andthus when a train traverses the rails supported by them the ballastunder the ends of the rail, for the reason given above, sinks, with thedisastrous results heretofore pointed out. In the constructionsillustrated and described, the deflected, broadened ends of the tiesformed by bend.-

ing the flanges 10 upon themselves and then flattening them out, serveto resist, to'a great degree, the tendency .of the tie to depression atits ends and bending down from points beyond its center, therebyobviating the vobjections heretofore noted in ties as hithertoconstructed; and the provision .of the reinforced flanges 3L0 servesalso to resist this tendency and {E0 prevent the inward collapsing oribucklitng of the flanges 10. By rein forcing the flanges as describedthe tie may teases be made relatively light in weight andstill affordthe requisite strength at the points at which it is subjected to thegreateststrain in use.

What I claim as new, and desire by Letters Patent, is

1. A U-shaped metal tie having each of its to secure metal flangesformed with a reinforcing rib between its bottom and top edges affordingrelatively thin sections of metal above and below the rib, with theupper thin section of metal bent down a portion only of its length,substantially as described.

2. A U-shaped metal tie having a horizontal bottom portion and twoupright flanges,

the I end reinforcing rib, with the end portions of its flanges bentupon themselves and flattened out, for the purpose set forth.

A U-shaped metal tie having each of its upwardly extending flangesformed with a reinforcing rib between its top and bottom edges, with theend portions of its flanges bent upon themselves and flattened out toform expanded tie-ends bent at angles to :tfhe bottom of the tie, forthe purpose set orth.

CHARLES R. HOLDEN.

In presence of- A. U. THORIEN, V. B. DAVIES.

